Brewed with coriander seeds it breaks from tradition by forgoing the use of dried orange peel for lime.  Moreover, passion fruit was added to give a very interesting dimension to this beer.  I understand that some do not like fruit in their beer and I can respect that.  I first was introduced to this beer at a tasting event and thought it was rather fruity myself.  However, giving it a second try I found it to be refreshing and unique.  Here is why.

Witbiers are essentially thirst quenching in nature.  The spice of the coriander and citrus notes of the orange help to provide some flavor to a rather dull malt bill.  5 Lizard takes that approach and puts a tropical relaxing twist on it.  The lime made me think I was on a sandy beach and gave a little more of a tart and tangy flavor than the dried orange peel.  However, the passion fruit gave great tropical notes.  Surprisingly, it had a very similar taste to those big juicy citrus IPAs without the use of all the hops.  Hints of guava, mango, lemongrass, pineapple, and papaya washed over my palate.  The mouthfeel is on the lighter side, but with some body due to the wheat.  This beer is perfect for those super hot summer nights.

After a little over a year of aging, the hops in this beer did not drop off.  The dry-hopping (cascade, centennial, chinook) all contribute to the resinous pungent nose.  Seriously, at 9.6% abv I don’t smell that at all.  It is well masked, by the hops and earthy caramel/biscuit-like malt aromas.  Hints of rum, coconut, orange, dates and oak are all supporting layers.  The hops give a very evident pine, spruce herbal quality that is dank and pungent right up front.  The finishing hops (cascade and centennial) provide a floral component that heightens the malt sweetness…honeyed and slightly citrus.

The appearance is outstanding.  The creamiest head I have seen!  A dense light beige formation looked like a topping for a pie.  It laced wonderfully, leaving many rings around my glass as I enjoyed this finely crafted beverage.  A warm bronze-amber hue with golden edges was clear after my first pour, but the second produced a slightly hazy glass (I made sure to swirl the sediment at the bottom).

Wow!  Almost two years later and this beer is still hoppy, resinous and sticky.  The Chinook hops provide a great woody, pine-like quality that stays with you each sip from front to back.  The hop profile is bitter on the finish, honeyed at the start, which then leads to a somewhat citrus middle.  Not to be one-upped, the malt lends a fine balance of toffee and caramel sweetness.  This malt component is present in the aftertaste, just enough to provide some relief to the resinous drying hop quality.  I’d say the 2010 vintage (sampled 2/6/12) held its freshness.

Bigfoot is a great beer to do vertical tastings with.  I’ve seen people do a few years or a plethora of vintages.  Either way, you will not be disappointed if enjoyed fresh or aged.

A few of my fellow PHM buddies went on a Michigan brewery tour last February and Founders was one of our stops.  During our time there Founders has a beer on tap named Endurance Pale Ale.  The experiment: to brew a hoppy beer that you could go the distance with in regards to consumption.  From what I remember, it was very delicious and had some great hop character.

One year and a renaming later, I get to try the perfected bottled product.  It is a knockout!  In classic Founders form the hop profile is amazing.  It fits right in with the likes of their Pale Ale, Centennial IPA, Harvest Ale, Double Trouble and Devil Dancer.  I’m pretty sure it is dry-hopped as the nose busts from the glass.  It is predominately citrus in character with some softer floral, juicy tropical fruit notes.  These softer notes remind me of their Harvest Ale, while at the same time there are also some big pungent notes that are reminiscent of Dubs Troubs.  As it warmed there were some piney, earthy herbal qualities that the hops displayed as well.

The taste is all hops and very little sweet malt.  While some might find the reduced amount of malt or caramel off putting, I actually prefer it in IPAs.  Moreover, if you let it warm some, the malt sweetness is noticeable.  The hops give a bite at the front and back half of the palate as they definitely dominate this beer.  It essentially displays a wide array of hop qualities like floral, pungent, citrus, herbal, fruity, and piney.  The mouthfeel is light, and you really can drink this all day.  I put down my first one quick and then prepared myself for the effects of the abv of Double Trouble.  This is a great beer…refreshing, super drinkable for hop heads and and great for a day out in the woods as the label suggests.

Due to the extended aging it tasted and smelled very similar to the original beer geek breakfast.  It had some deeper caramel flavors and a slight vanilla root beer aspect, but much classic Bourbon-like qualities…at least with regards to the booziness.  The oak aging definitely mellowed out the coffee and turned it into a more astringent brunt grain character.  Chocolate notes were more bakers dark chocolate and did remain on the palate for too long.

The nose was muted with great roasted grain notes, chocolate, and rum covered fruits dipped in chocolate.  As it warmed a very faint boozy warmth did rise.  There were some earthy herbal aromas that balanced the wood sugars and caramel hints.

Nothing too fancy.  I think the point of this variation was to see how the Bourbon and oak would effect the strong coffee flavors.  Towards the end of the glass highlighted notes of caramel and charred wood did present themselves delicately.  I was expecting a little more wood character, but I found the amount to fit the beer well.  After all, it is not a boozy imperial beer.  The Bourbon did add some deeper richer flavors while the wood helped to round out the edges so I guess you could say the barrel did its job.  I think this beer would have aged better and tasted a little more complex if the abv was higher before going into the barrel.  The mouthfeel was still slick and oily, but the oak helped to thin it out and lend a slightly drier finish.

I would like to try this one fresh to compare the difference.  The coffee would be more pronounced and hopefully the Bourbon too.  Until, then this was just a tab better than the original.

The flavor in this sucker is literally as it smells.   Nothing to fool you.  Smokey notes up front and well into the aftertaste.  Coffee notes are stronger towards the finish making for a well-rounded brew.  Again the oats gave that nice velvety, oily mouthfeel which I think helped to tone down the smokey aspect.  This is a solid brew coming in at mid-strength alcohol content so the oats, coffee, and smoked malt stay on the palate a little longer than if it was an imperial beer.  I like the complexity this beer had and how each ingredient helped to highlight the other while also being strong enough to stand alone.  Out of Mikkeller’s breakfast stouts I’d say this is one of the more interesting variations  offered.

It should be noted that my bottle did home some chunks at the bottom so make sure you decant accordingly.

The head retention on this beer is great.  Foamy, frothy, dense and lacing.  It is egg-shell white in color as it rests atop a light hazy straw liquid with supporting bubbles.  The aroma is crisp, floral, herbal, bready, and soft.  This might sound a little contradicting, but the hops are what give it that pop while the malt adds the sweet smooth notes.  It is very aromatic like Avery’s Pils however, here, only Liberty hops are used.  One of the parent flowers is Hallertau  Mittlefruh giving Liberty that spicy, herbal component.

Initially, this beer gave a wonderful salvo of hoppy flavors that were dry at the finish.  For a sessionable Pilsner, I can see why this would be a good beer to enjoy with spicy foods as it cleanses the palate.  Towards the second glass the great bready malt and yeast notes come to the fore.  The bottle says Pacman Yest is used while their website says Czech Pils Wyeast 2278 was used.  Given the fact that the flavor was closer to that of a Czech Pils I’m going with the website.  Spicy on the sides of the palate and slightly resinous on the aftertaste, the hops do make a strong showing in this beer.  The light bready sweet flavors do well to provide a hay, straw, wheat-like base for the hops to shine.  The mouthfeel was smooth and more full bodied than most Pilsners, while retaining a refreshing quality.

There are a few things different about this beer than the original Beer Geek B-fast.  The head was much darker.  Instead of a medium khaki color it was deep mocha similar to Founders Imperial Stout.  While I’m not sure if it was because of the coffee or bigger grain bill, I thought it fitting for an Imperial Stout.  The color of the beer itself was a super dark brown when pouring and pitch black when in the glass.  The carbonation is moderate producing a slight film after the head settled along with giving some balance to the oatmeal stout body.  Helped make the coffee come alive a little.

When I reflect on the flavor, it is hard for me to think of it as a singular brew.  To me, it embodies/incorporates a few stouts that I love.  It has the deep roasted/burnt malt quality of Founders Imperial Stout, the coffee notes of a BCS Coffee, the body of Peche Mortel, and smoothness/creaminess of The Poet.  Yet at the same time, it can stand on its own.  The mouthfeel was still slick and oily due to the nice addition of the oats.  I do think the higher abv did contribute a lot to this beer.  It helped to boast the intensity and body allowing for the burnt astringent grains and coffee to share the stage harmoniously.  Compared to Mikkeller’s base Breakfast Stout, this one offers more body, flavor and complexity of flavors.  Moreover, the way each component fits together is well done.  The finish is coffee, but combined with the grain bill and oats, it gives a wonderful chocolate finish and aftertaste (on the dry side).

The aroma is straight up coffee…it is smooth and somewhat fruity.  The grains are roasty, the hop level on the  moderate side providing some piney notes.  Overall, I’d say there was a difference in the coffee used.  It had a much deeper aroma, flavor and complimented the grain more.  To me, it seemed a lot more rich/full than bitter (like a Breakfast blend).

They consulted the help of Christopher Elbow who recommended a chocolate from the Dominican Republic.  Using this cocoa, Boulevard achieved this flavor by using both nibs and ground cocoa beans.  The flavor and aroma is amazing!

Pure silky milk chocolate was very evident on the nose.  While robust, it was not a dark bitter chocolate.  Smooth, elegant, light and creamy.  The malts used played a huge part in the aroma.  The honey malt give off a very sweet aroma which combined with the cocoa made for a very sugary smell.  Pale malt and wheat where used providing some body to the aroma, but for the most part it was very fruity.  Orange, honey, lemon, orange peel, coriander, and a floral honeysuckle sweetness were very apparent.  The malt notes seemed close to that of a Dubbel.

it tastes exactly like it smelled.  Milk chocolate seemed to filter through the rich caramel malt notes lending a silky, creamy mouthfeel.  It almost seemed like this beer could be make into an ice cream topping.  Floral flavors dominated the flavor.  Honey, lavender, orange blossom, and eucalyptus highlighted the finish, while the chocolate make through more so on the aftertaste.  Both did compliment each other as was their goal.  This beer is unique…it is not a dark ale, but rather a honey-bronze color with a rocky tan head.  It comes across like a Dubbel to some degree, but without the spicy yeasty quality.  The chocolate is noticeable but still subdued…partly because it is a lighter variety or used sparingly in order to find that sweet spot with the malt.

That said, lets dive in.  Wow.  Talk about an interesting look at discerning where bitterness comes from.  In the base varietal, the bitterness came from the burnt grains and coffee.  Those aromas are picked up here, but under the cloak of dank pungent hops.  Here the hops provided some life or freshness to the aroma, lifting it from a place of deep dark burnt notes to that of spicy, herbal, floral vegetation.  The astringent grains and coffee are still noticeable on the nose more so than in the flavor.  A woody, dank, pungent, earthy, piney, spicy hop quality was very evident on the aroma.

With regards to taste…it is a resinous almost puckering experience.  I can see why many might classify this as a black IPA, but honestly, I think it is closer to  3Floyds Black Sun which is definitely a stout…the hopping is just intense.  My best guess is that a high alpha acid hop was used like Columbus, Galena, or Nugget.  Whatever was used, the finish is pungently bitter and resinous.  This combined with the coffee and astringent grains creates a Coca-Cola flavor in the distant aftertaste.  However, the more I drank this beer I realized it was a hop bomb.  The hop resins and oats created a much more slick and oily beer this time around.  I found that the hops basically overpowered the base flavors causing some frustration.  I enjoyed the oatmeal and coffee combo which no only seemed to present itself in the finish.

There are still the great stout notes as found in the original where the coffee retains some dominance, but the hopping really makes to think and appreciate there the bitterness can come from.  While, I guess this might have similar flavors to a Black IPA, I found it more of an expansion upon an already existing brew.  That is my opinion and I’m sticking to it.

I sampled Double Jack before giving this one (the base) a try, but here in IL, Dubs was the first IPA of FW to hit the shelf.  Double Jack rocked my world causing me to keep my fridge well stocked with it for at least 3 months straight.  Wanting to sample their Pale Series beer, I was naturally excited when I found Union Jack on the shelf.

It pours a clear, light bronze hue with a dense ivory head.  Honestly, it looked lighter than some APAs I’ve had – my kind of IPA.  The orange hues were most dominant, but for the most part this looked close to the IPAs that 3 Floyds and Founders brew.

The aroma was all about the hops.  Floral, citrus, dank, resinous, pungent, herbal, grassy, honey, piney, woodsy, earthy and fruity notes were all present in this beer.  While there was more focus on the fruity aspects there is something here for every hop head to enjoy.  Not as grapefruit-like as expected, but the citrus aromas are more tangerine, orange, and peach.  There is a nice light caramel touch to the malt providing some sweetness that compliments the honey’d hop characteristics well.

The flavor is phenomenal!  FW does hoppy beers well and it shows.  Union Jack is a hop lovers dream.  Seriously, a few months after I finished my first 6 pack, I had a dream I was enjoying a pint of this on a tropical island.  Even though this beer is full on hops, it is well-balanced with a sweet caramel, biscuit-like malt backbone aid to sugar coat the front of the palate.  From there it becomes an all on assault on the taste buds (in a good way).  The hopping is crisp and clean…like a good IPA should be.  It seemed the bitterness amplified the abv a little as there were times this beer seemed like an Imperial IPA.  It as packed with resinous flavors…that if for sure!  The back half of the sip reveals the pungent dank high alpha hops used for bittering.  Wow!  It is intense.  The aftertaste is that of peach, mango, some apple, and light bready caramel.

Overall, I give this beer the highest grade for many reasons.  It is a quality beer that deserves more attention.  Compared to most IPAs on the market, I’d argue that this is as good as Bell’s Hopslam and Founders Double Trouble…if not in the same vein.  It is that good!